1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the area of child car seats, specifically a car seat with a feature to hold an abdominal shield and/or shoulder straps out of the way while a child enters or exits the seat.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Child car seats that employ an abdominal shield or pad, integrally formed with the shoulder straps of the car seat, are known in the art. Some of the earliest examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,912,328 to Tanaka; 4,025,111 to Tanaka and Kuszynski; and 4,342,483 to Takada.
A major problem with these prior art car seats is that they have no feature to hold the abdominal shield and shoulder straps out of the way while a child enters or exits the seat. The shield and straps significantly interfere with the process of putting a child into, or removing the child from, the car seat.
Leaving the shield and straps in the body of the car seat, then pulling them out from between a child and the seat after the child is in position, is difficult and unwieldy. The process usually also twists and wrinkles the child's clothing. Pulling the shield and straps up and over the back of the seat, to get them out of the way, also does not work well--the shield and straps are often pulled back down, and back into the way, by the automatic retracting action of the straps.
Shield interference is not an issue in prior art devices wherein the shield operates separately from the shoulder straps, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,429,916 to Hyde, Smith, Carmichael, and Meader; and 5,607,203 to Sedlack. In these devices, the shield is generally bar-shaped, and may be swiveled or rotated out of the way to facilitate a child's entry or exit from the car seat. However, shoulder strap interference with an entering or exiting child remains a problem with these devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,012 to Parker, Golenz, Knoedler, and Harvey discloses a device wherein the shoulder straps are connected to a bar-shaped shield, such that when the shield is rotated out of the way, the straps are raised with it. However, the straps are permanently affixed to the shield, not releasably fastened; thus, this device does not allow separate operation of the shield and straps.
Similarly, shoulder strap interference is also an issue in prior art devices that do not employ a shield, but instead rely on shoulder straps alone to secure a child, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,033,622 to Boudreau and 5,082,325 to Sedlack.
To summarize, a car seat with a feature to hold the abdominal shield and/or shoulder straps out of the way while a child enters or exits would be a great improvement over prior art car seats.